A Short History of Neuroscience at Cambridge

1953 The Thorpe-Zangwill club begins

1963 John Eccles, Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley win
a Nobel prize for their discoveries concerning the ionic mechanisms
involved in excitation and inhibition in the peripheral and central
portions of the nerve cell membrane

1967 The Neurobiology club is formed, with weekly
meetings on Saturday mornings

1969 A bid for a Neurobiology Centre is made to the
Science Research Council

1971 The MRC Neurochemical Pharmacology
Unit under Leslie Iversen is formed

1985 The MRC Molecular Neurobiology Unit under the
Directorship of Eric Barnard opens at the LMB

1988 A part II Neuroscience course for undergraduates
is established

1992 Successful bid made to the MRC for an
Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Brain Repair

1993 The Neurobiology Group at the Laboratory of
Molecular Biology (LMB) is formed

1995 The MRC Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair is
opened by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh

1997 The Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre opens

1998 The Applied Psychology Unit in Cambridge is
renamed the Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (CBU). The first annual
Cambridge Neuroscience Seminar is held

1999 The Brain Mapping Unit within the Department of
Psychiatry is formed

2002 The MRC Behavioural & Clinical Neuroscience
Centre is opened

2002 Sydney Brenner, Robert Horvitz and John Sulston
win a Nobel prize for their discoveries concerning genetic regulation
of organ development and programmed cell death

2004 The Department of Clinical Neurosciences is
formed, bringing together the University Units of Neurology and
Neurosurgery, the Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair and the Wolfson
Brain Imaging Centre

2004 The Gurdon Institute opens

2004 The Cambridge Computational Biology Institute is
formed

2005 The MRC and the Wellcome Trust jointly fund the
creation of the Behavioural & Clinical Neuroscience Institute

It has been 115 years since the nerve cell was clearly recognized as the
structural and functional unit of the nervous system; only 115 years
of the modern era, yet the achievements over that time have been
staggering. During those years anatomists, physiologists, zoologists
and many others, all of whom now go by the name of
‘neuroscientists’, sought to understand some of the most
fundamental properties of the nervous system. Until the latter part of
the 19th and the early years of the 20th centuries these properties
were considered to be ‘mysteries’: the structure of
neurons, the ways in which they are interconnected, the architecture
of the brain, the physiological bases of reflexes, the mechanisms by
which messages from the sense organs are signalled to the brain, and
the nature of the nerve impulse.

Many of these mysteries were dispelled by work done in Cambridge

Many of these mysteries were dispelled by work done
in Cambridge, such as that of Adrian, Langley, Matthews Hodgkin and
Huxley, and through work done by people who had been trained in
Cambridge, one of whom was Sherrington who held the George Henry Lewes
Studentship in the Department of Physiology.

WJR Rivers and Henry Head in St John's College, performing one of their most
famous experiments on the regeneration of nerve tissue

During the years in which this work was being conducted there was,
understandably, little need for scientific interactions between
members of different University departments. However, by the 1950s,
with this basic information about the organisation of the nervous
system available, the intellectual climate was to change. Many
neuroscientists sought to understand the role of the brain in
controlling behaviour, perception, attention, learning and memory. But
other factors also played a part in the change. New techniques were
appearing that made it possible to address these questions
experimentally: the microelectrode allowed the activity of individual
nerve cells to be studied in behaving animals and in humans;
oscilloscopes could be bought off the shelf instead of having to be
made in the laboratory; and computers began to arrive on the
scene. Furthermore, new ideas were emerging, such as those of
information technology and cybernetics, ideas that Kenneth Craik
correctly predicted would influence future developments in
neuroscience.

Cambridge was quick to appreciate the need for
cross- departmental, interdisciplinary interactions

Cambridge was quick to appreciate the need for
cross-departmental, interdisciplinary interactions, and in
1952 appointed Oliver Zangwill as Professor of Experimental
Psychology. Zangwill had wide experience of clinical neuropsychology,
and had a special interest in the effects of brain lesions on memory
and perception. He gathered together a group of people whose interest
in the brain extended to encompass behaviour – then almost a unique
combination of interests.

Zhangwill teamed up with WH Thorpe in the Department of
Zoology. Thorpe was a major figure in the relatively new discipline of
ethology that sought to study the behaviour of animals in nature,
rather than in the training boxes. This approach initially brought
ethologists and psychologists into conflict, and the two men sought to
resolve the conflict. To do so, they formed a small discussion group,
which came to be known as the Thorpe-Zangwill club, and they brought
in people from several disciplines. Thorpe and Zangwill were crucially
important in creating an interdisciplinary approach to behaviour and
also to neuroscience in Cambridge. Members of the club met over the
period 1953 – early 1960s in Thorpe’s room in Jesus
College. Later, the Neurobiology club was formed and weekly meetings
were held ion Saturday mornings in the attic of the Department of
Zoology. The meetings were attended by neuroscientists from different
Departments, and the discussions were vigorous and intense. The club
was active over several years.

During this time, the Science Research Council expressed an
informal interest in, but not a commitment, to establishing a
neurobiology centre in the UK. The interested departments in the
School of Biology and in the Clinical School joined forces – until
then an almost unheard of alliance – and submitted a detailed
programme of research. But the SRC got cold feet and did not proceed
with the scheme. Twenty years later, the MRC made a firm request for
bids for a neurobiology centre. The departments joined forces again
and submitted an application. This one was successful and the funds
awarded made possible the foundation of Interdisciplinary Research
Centre for Brain Repair.

Cohorts of students who no longer recognise subject boundaries are being trained in neuroscience

By 1992 the Cambridge Neuroscience Seminars began. These seminars
are held annually. Each seminar consists of a number of lectures and
poster sessions followed by a dinner for participants. Members of all
University departments, research institutions and industrial
organisations in the region that have interests in the field of
neuroscience are welcome to attend. The seminars continue to
flourish. Around the same time the Clinical School strengthened its
interests in the clinical neurosciences, culminating, in 2004, with
the establishment of a University Department of Clinical
Neurosciences. All these ventures had consequences. Not only had
neuroscientists joined forces at the level of research, but a new
third year course – a Part II in Neuroscience established in 1988 – is
still going strong and is highly successful. Cohorts of students who
no longer recognise subject boundaries are being trained in
neuroscience; and they can talk and understand the language of
molecular neurobiology, psychology, neurophysiology,
neuropharmacology, and much else of what it takes to comprehend modern
neuroscience.

Because of all of these developments Cambridge has, over the past
50 or so years, gained wide experience of studying the nervous system
across all disciplines and across all levels of analysis: from
molecules to mental processes; from the giant axon of the squid to
synapses in the locust brain; from neural development in the nematode
worm and the fruit fly to the functioning of the avian and mammalian
brains; from modelling of neuronal networks to – dramatically – human
brain imaging. This latter technique provides a powerful tool for
investigating brain function in health and disease, and raises issues
that have led to the creation of new fields of enquiry, such as
neuroethics and neuroeconomics. Human brain imaging studies also
impinge on the law and are likely to generate a new area of enquiry
that might, perhaps, be called “neuroprudence”.

There has never been a greater need for interdisciplinary
interactions

With all the techniques available, there has never been a greater
need, now and in the future, for interdisciplinary interactions, not
only within the biomedical and clinical sciences, but also between
them and the physical sciences and technology; there has never been
greater promise for the clinical application of basic neuroscientific
knowledge; and there has never been greater promise than there is now
for the transfer of knowledge gained from the field of
neuroscience to the pharmaceutical industry, to the health sciences,
computer sciences, engineering – and to yet other, unforeseen
fields.

Cambridge is uniquely placed to meet the challenges of
neuroscience in the future and there is no doubt that
the Cambridge Neuroscience initiative will meet these needs
and fulfil its expectations.

Professor Sir Gabriel HornSub-Department of Animal Behaviour, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge

Professor Sir Gabriel Horn died on August 2nd, 2012, aged 84. Sir Gabriel was Emeritus
Professor of the Department of Zoology and Fellow of King's College.